Ache
by BunniesOfDoom
Summary: Being sick is bad enough, but an illness on top of being injured is just cruel.


Written for a friend's prompt on my sneezehq tumblr. This is set post-series, with Yuuri and Victor living together in Russia (although for the sake of this fic, Yuuri is out of town or something) and Yurio basically lives with them. Content warning for vomit. I write Yuri P. as Yuri. Hope that you enjoy it!

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Yuri doesn't think much of it when he falls after attempting his quad lutz. It's near the end of a long day of practice, and Victor's not there to make sure that Yuri doesn't overwork himself because he's still getting over the flu. Today was the first day that Yuri has been able to leave the house for full practice without worrying about Victor. He's been taking care of Victor day and night (with only mild complaining), so he can't afford to get hurt now and miss even more practice time.

Yakov yells at him for the mistake, and makes him do it over several times. By the time that Yuri is allowed to go home, there's a growing ache radiating through his chest, but he writes it off as just a little bruise. There's no way he could have actually hurt himself.

The next day his sides are extremely sore and sensitive, but Yuri grits his teeth and works through it. He's not about to be sidelined by a little pain. But between the lingering ache in his chest and the resulting stiffness, skating is nothing short of torture. He can't deny that he's grateful when Yakov dismisses him.

He goes home and collapses into bed without even showering or eating dinner. Victor questions him about his uncharacteristic behavior, but Yuri waves off the concern, saying that he's just tired.

A fit of deep, rattling coughing rudely awakens him the next morning. It's incredibly painful, each cough makes his eyes water and sends a sharp jolt of pain through his side. When the fit finally subsides, Yuri is breathless and gasping, his vision going hazy as he clutches desperately at his side. He sinks back into the pillows and gulps for air as he tries to catch his breath. When he's finally able to focus on anything besides not being able to breathe, he realizes that he should really start getting ready. He sits up gingerly, even that small movement sending a stab of pain through his chest, before remembering that today is his off day.

He slumps back with a careful sigh of relief. He can rest up today, hopefully sleep off the cough, and be practice-ready by tomorrow morning. He spends the rest of the sleeping off and on, only leaving the room to go get food. Victor pops in to check on him a couple times, worried by Yuri hiding away in his room. Normally, when he, Yuuri, and Victor have a day off, they spend it watching old movies together in the living room.

Today, that's absolutely out of the question, because if Victor hears Yuri coughing, he'll waste his time fussing over him instead of making sure that he's ready for practice tomorrow. Yuri refuses to be responsible for Victor missing his first time back at practice. He can take care of himself.

Resting doesn't seem to be doing him very much good though, because as the day progresses, the coughing only continues to worsen. Yuri does his best to muffle it so Victor can't hear it, but he's worried by the ever-increasing intensity of his cough and his inability to catch his breath. On top of that, Yuri is vaguely aware that he probably has a fever. The room alternates between feeling like a meat locker and the surface of the sun. He's oddly dizzy too. As the sky outside steadily darkens, Yuri manages to fall into a shallow doze. Hopefully he'll feel better in the morning.

His hopes are dashed when he's once again woken up by a coughing fit. The coughs are sharper than the day before, and the ache in his sides has somehow intensified. His eyes widen in alarm when he realizes that the fit isn't going to stop anytime soon. His stomach is churning angrily, and as the coughing persists, Yuri can taste bile at the back of his throat.

Miraculously, his stomach manages to hold it together long enough for Yuri to clamp a hand over his mouth, struggle his way out of bed, and make a mad dash for the bathroom.

As soon as he gets his head over the toilet, the coughs turn into retches, bringing burning acid up his already raw throat. Somehow, the vomiting hurts even worse than the coughing, and Yuri feels hot tears squeeze out of his stinging eyes from the pain and humiliation.

Victor is awoken by the sound of gagging from the bathroom and immediately rushes over to see what's wrong. He's horrified to find Yuri crouched over the toilet, ghostly pale and flushed with fever. He moves to support Yuri, one hand keeping his hair out of the way and the other on his chest, but Yuri hisses in pain as Victor's hand brushes his side. The hiss causes Yuri to start coughing again, when in turn leads into another fit of gagging.

Despite how little food Yuri has eaten, his angry stomach continues to rebel, and he dry heaves for another ten minutes before his stomach settles a bit. He almost blacks out at one point; his throat is on fire, his chest aches, and he can't breathe.

Finally finished, Yuri collapses against Victor, completely spent. Victor makes him drink a little bit of water, then carries him back to bed. When he's finally able to catch his breath, Yuri mumbles an explanation about falling the other day and bruising his ribs.

"Yuri, one of these days you're going to learn to tell someone when these things happen," Victor begins, preparing for a long lecture, sighing when he realizes that Yuri has already passed out. He decides to save the speech for when Yuri is feeling better, and makes a mental note to grab some painkillers and fever reducers when Yuri is able to stomach them.

As he runs his fingers soothingly through Yuri's long blond hair, Victor laughs to himself. "You really don't do anything halfway, do you?" Yuri just smiles and sleeps on.

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Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!


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